READERS RESPOND

The world needs more people like Mary Kim Ward

What a moving obituary notice that was featured in The Baltimore Sun on Aug. 20 about the recent passing of Col. Mary Kim Ward of the Baltimore County Police Department (“Col. Kim Ward, for decades the highest-ranking female officer in Baltimore County Police history, dies,” Aug. 19). What kindness, concern and compassion she demonstrated in returning the runaway 6-year-old Lafayette Cunningham to the Villa Maria School after she spotted him on Dulaney Valley Road one night on her way home from her shift — and then becoming that child’s mentor for 19 years! It just goes to show what a positive influence and difference one person can make in another’s life. We need more people like Mary Kim Ward in this world. She will be sorely missed!

John Lally, Nottingham

Two Maryland towns, two very different responses to Confederate monuments

With regard to your editorial (“The era of ‘Talbot Boys’ statues is over,” Aug. 14), let me contrast how two towns on the Eastern Shore are dealing with white supremacy and their racial histories. First, the city of Salisbury. Recently the Wicomico County Council agreed to remove a plaque honoring a Confederate General who oversaw Confederate Prison Camps during the Civil War (“A county on Maryland’s Eastern Shore quietly takes down a Confederate memorial, after years of rejecting the idea,” July 26). In addition they established the Salisbury Lynching Memorial Task Force, which collected soil samples from lynching locations in Wicomico and Somerset Counties and put the samples on display at the Chipman Cultural Center in Salisbury. Mayor Jack Day also accepted the recommendation of the City’s Human Rights Advisory Committee to create a monument in remembrance of the three Salisbury citizens who lost their lives at the hands of lynch mobs in Wicomico County.

Now we have the story of Easton, Maryland, where a statue of the Talbot Boys has stood since 1916. This statue honored the town’s Confederate Soldiers and shows a soldier holding the Confederate Flag. It stands at the front of the Talbot County Courthouse. Resolutions have been introduced by the County Council President to take it down, but on Aug. 11 the Talbot County Council voted 3-2 not to remove it. It is remarkable that in this day and age, with the death of George Floyd and the issue of white supremacy and racism in this country, that people are not more sensitive to how these monuments appear to some.

These statues and monuments were erected to send a negative message to a certain segment of their community and to honor the Confederacy, which rebelled against the United States to uphold slavery. They all should be removed!

Brad Feig, Baltimore

McGrath payout among reasons people distrust the government

In a commentary in The Baltimore Sun, Roy McGrath, the governor’s former chief of staff, made a clear point that his severance package was “not severance.” He went on to call it a severance package 10 times (“Roy McGrath: Severance from Maryland Environmental Service earned through ‘exceptional performance,’ ” Aug. 21).

He defended his severance as being simply the latest performance bonus in a long history of such compensation at the Maryland Environmental Service. Yet, when he talked about his accomplishments at MES, they were rooted in a lack of strategic planning and neglect that preceded his employment. Perhaps, MES has a different level of quality performance than the rest of us.

He even preached about how hard he works. Here’s to all the delivery drivers, teachers, sanitation workers, nurses and other hard workers in our communities who never get a year’s worth of wages for quitting.

As ignorant, arrogant and tone deaf as Mr. McGrath is, he is not the main problem here. He didn’t do anything illegal. And that’s the problem. We have created a system that allows powerful, privileged people the opportunity to smooth their path through life. The American dream is built on justice and equality. This deal and others like it demonstrate neither justice nor equality.

With “public servants” like Roy McGrath, can it be any surprise that people distrust and detest the government?

Adam Sutton, Towson